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Interview with the director of “Welcome to Serbia” Nebojša Sević
- Q: Where would you position WTS on the Serbian market in the field of legal, immigration and other services aimed at providing complex support to foreign investors and legal entities in Serbia?
Nebojša: I am at liberty to say that our company is an absolute leader and dare I say, a monopoly in the field of these specific services, having in mind that we cover all the aspects of business needs of foreign partners, as well as individuals and companies that have the intention to expand their business to Serbian market and neighboring countries, including banking and legal services, family office services, M&A, direct and portfolio investments, as well as joint investments with domestic companies, and complex procedures of obtaining residence and work permits under the most favorable conditions.
- Q: Which of the services in your sphere of business is of the greatest interest at the moment?
Nebojša Sević: Complex changes in the business world in the region, Europe, and in the whole world, in terms of banking have led to the need to provide professional and complete support to international businessmen in the field of commercial banking and tax optimization at the global and local levels.
Lately, we have noticed a great interest in Serbian residency, and even obtaining Serbian citizenship, which is becoming more and more attractive in the light of progressive shutting down of commercial second citizenship programs in Cyprus, Malta and Caribbean countries.
Although Serbia is unknown to many as a business destination, we can say that nowadays Serbia is very convenient for doing business because it is not a member of EU, but it has very good cooperation with EU countries and many European banks operate in Serbia.
Serbia is also characterized by the fact that people from all over the world are welcome here.
There was also a noticeable increase in interest in crypto business in Serbia after the implementation of a New Cryptocurrency Law in Serbia on July 1st, 2021.
- Q: What does the client structure of WTS look like?
Nebojša Sević: We are surprised by the geographical dispersion of our client base, as we have clients from 54 countries, from Japan, China, Russia to European countries, Middle East countries and Latin America.
- Q: What kind of competition does Serbia represent in relation to traditional jurisdictions? What can Serbia offer that is new and interesting for businessmen from all over the world?
Nebojša: The favorable business environment in Serbia has highly competitive tax rates and low operating costs. With a unique combination of high quality, wide availability and cost-effectiveness, the Serbian workforce is considered to be a strong driver of business performance. Serbia also provides the opportunity to export duty-free goods to both the east and the west, to a market totaling 1.3 billion people.
As another advantage of the Serbian market, I must mention interstate agreements related to the free movement of goods, capital and people, especially in the area of customs regulations, concluded with the EU, CEFTA, EFTA countries, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey, as well as the preferential treatment with the USA, Japan and Australia.
- Q: In what direction is your spectrum of services for foreign clients going?
Nebojša: We are implementing new services and possibilities in the field of crypto business, organization of brokerage companies, possibilities to buy banks and invest in profitable projects and companies from Serbia and the region.
We are also implementing new services in terms of securing assistance in buying real estate, as well as outsourcing services, which are becoming more and more interesting to foreign businessmen.
